The Commission on the Status of Women 67th session ended on March 18th and was immediately followed by the opening of the 68th Session. Two themes are allocated per session – a priority theme and a review theme. The priority theme for CSW 68 in 2024 is ‘Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.’ The Review theme is: ‘Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-third session). Both themes are of special interest to us. While linking directly with our position paper on Economic Justice the topics are intersectional and crossing cutting across all six position papers. Throughout the years our advocacy at the United Nations has been strong and consistent on the implementation of rights-based social protection.
On March 23 Winifred Doherty spoke on the direct impact of corporate activities both on the ground and across their value chains, which disproportionately undermine women and girls’ human rights, in Africa primarily, and across the world. The invitation to be a panelist came from the Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network Ireland. I connected the dots from Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Good Shepherd Province NewYork/Toronto, an investor, so as to undertake advocacy with Tesla, a multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas on behalf of the local community – children and women in Kolwezi who human rights are violated on a daily basis by the ‘Pharaoh’ of today. No one of us can do this work alone. We need to network with multiple other organizations with expertise in the area of concern e.g. Investor Advocates for Social Justice in NY. The preliminary documentary Maisha and the BBC Documentary both show conditions on the ground in Kolwezi.
It was a privilege to share the time with Sr Veronica and know of her work. You can see the other segments of the program on the website Learn more about the latest projects HERE
Another advocacy moment happened on March 28 with an invitation to be a panelist at a C20 India Working Group Human Rights as Human Values. You may well ask what is C 20 India. C20 India 2023 is one of the official Engagement Groups of the G20 that provides a platform for Civil Society Organizations (CSO) around the world to voice people’s aspirations to the world leaders in G20. It gives CSOs a forum to protect the agency of this sector, reflect the primary and common concerns affecting the people of the world, and to promote social and economic development with the vision of leaving no one behind. See more
For July, we are providing an account from our Good Shepherd Partners in Lebanon showing the ugly face of child labour. We read of the dire situation of families and their children and the work undertaken in collaboration with Wells of Hope in the Middle East in the fight to end human trafficking. Nayiri, a social worker, in creating awarenss of adult rights in relation to human trafficking encounters many children who are engaged in labour. She addresses some of the consequences in counselling session and by offering social support. It pains me everytime I read ‘that trafficking in children is a ‘worst form of child labour’. This is a way of sanitising the violence of child sexual abuse. It is not labour it is violence! As long as conflict continues, profiteers continue to violate human rights, and governments fails in their duty to protect the human rights of people, implement universal child benefits and social protection, people seeking to survive are targets of exploiters.
Graphic in Arabic is done by one of our team members at Wells of Hope.
In July 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously adopted a resolution declaring 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, and has asked the International Labour Organization (ILO) to take the lead in its implementation. The resolution highlights the commitments of the Member States “to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”… This is the exact wording of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 8, Target 7 which gives rise to Alliance 8.7, an inclusive global partnership committeed to achieving SDG 8.7 with the objectives of (i) accelerating action, (ii) conducting research and knowledge sharings,(iii) driving innovaton and (iv) leveraging resources. There are 4 years remaining to 2025 so how are we doing? ILO reports ‘child labour has decreased by 38 per cent in the last decade … the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably worsened the situation, but joint and decisive action can reverse this trend.’ Will we see zero child labour in 2025? For the World Day to End Child Labour, (June 12) the ILO and UNICEF will release new global estimates and trends on child labour (2016-2020), under the aegis of Alliance 8.7. I wonder what the number will be like compared to the 2016 estimates?
In the above statistics there is no mention of human trafficking or prostitution, yet it is referenced either directly or indirectly in three counties. In Chile “70.6% of children in child labour aged 5 to 17 are engaged in hazardous child labour. Children are also involved in other worst forms of child labour, including commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. Indigenous children and adolescents from Ecuador are especially vulnerable to human trafficking for labour exploitation in Chile. Commonly, children are forced to steal, produce, sell, and transport drugs near the border with Peru and Bolivia.”
For Madagascar we read ‘the worst forms of child labour include commercial exploitation and trafficking.In 2007 4.5% of Malagasy children were trafficked, often for domestic work. Trafficking, both transnational and internal, is not uncommon in Madagascar. Though data is scant, evidence indicates that victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forces labour, domestic work, and forced begging.”
For Nepal “More than 31,000 people were estimated to be in forced labour in 2017, out of which 17% were children. Practices of forced labour and trafficking have been documented both in the country (for example, in the adult entertainment sector) and across borders.”
The ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour achieved universal ratification in August 2020 when the last of the 187 member States of the ILO formally deposited their ratification insturments. The Convention was adopted in 1999 and has taken 21 years to achieve universal ratification. That is one measure of success, but has the Convention been domesticated and is it being implemented?
Reading ILO Convention 182 in the light of our Position Paper on the Girl Child sheds more light on the girls’ vulnerability to ‘the worst form of child labour.’ Our paper references sexual abuse, use as objects in protstitution and child labor. Article 2 of the Convention defines the term ‘the worst forms of child labour:’
(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
Snippets from the Pathfinder Countries in the Alliance 8.7 contain only three referrence to commercial sexual exploitation of children. Why is this? Will the updated global estimates that will be released on June 12th highlight the new criminal phonomenon of ‘Online Sexual Exploitation of Children’ (OSEC)? The International Justice Mission published a study in 2020 Online Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Philippines: Analysis and Recommendations for Governments, Industry, and Civil Society in which they noted that OSEC is a complex, hidden crime that is particularly challenging for the global community to measure and address. The lack of global OSEC data, inconsistencies in collecting, sharing and analysing data, across countries and agencies is one thing. This difficulty is further complicated by the complexity of internet-facilitated crimes which has made it almost impossible to accurately track, study and understand this crime. The estimated number/prevalence rate of IP addresses used for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) each year more than tripled from 23,333 in 2014 to 81, 723 in 2017. This corresponds to a growth in the prevalence rate from about 43 out of every 10,000 IP addresses being used for CSE in 2014 to 149 out of every 10,000 IP addresses being used for CSE in 2017. Due to limitations in the data, it is not clear if this increase was reflective of an actual rise in the occurrence of the crime, a rise in the reporting of the crime, or both.
• 96% depicted children on their own, typically in a home setting such as their own bedroom. • 98% of imagery depicted children assessed as 13 years or younger. • 96% of the imagery featured girls.
These statistics shows which how easy it is to contact children within their own homes in this age of technology, the age of the children and how girls are disproportionalely targeted and exploited. Will this aspect of the exploitation of children be mentioned? Our position papers on Human Trafficking, Prostitution and the Girl Child reflect and focus these issues very clearly for us. There is a week of Action June 10 – 17 2021 with various events. During the 109th International Labour Conference, a high level panel on June 10th will mark the World Day against Child Labour. The first part of the event will focus on a conversation on the new ILO-UNICEF global estimates and trends on child labour 2016 – 2021. Please ask question or put comments in the comments box.
